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Monday, Mar 11, 2013 12:49 PM UTC

Boehner: GOP needs to communicate better

The Republican party's problem is not its principles, he said, but "articulating those principles"

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Topics: John Boehner, Republican Party, House Republicans, Ohio, 2012 Elections,

Boehner: GOP needs to communicate better (Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Despite polls showing that most Americans think the Republican Party is out of touch, House Speaker  John Boehner thinks its the messaging that’s the problem, not the party’s platform. “Our principles — things like freedom and responsibility — are eternal, but we’ve got to do a better job of articulating those principles and … translating them into common-sense solutions that will help middle-class families and small businesses,” he said in an interview with CQ Roll Call.

He continued:

There’s no doubt that, as a party, we need to do a better job of communicating and engaging with the American people. In the House, we only control one half of one third of the government, and going up against the presidential bully pulpit is tough. But our priorities are still firmly aligned with the American peoples’: creating jobs, cutting wasteful government spending, and expanding opportunity for all Americans so they can achieve the American dream. Our job as House Republicans is to put our principles into legislation, like the budget that we will vote on this month, and show how those solutions help families in our Congressional districts and around the country.

He had a similar take on the GOP’s big losses in the November election: “We lost the presidential election in November and there are lessons to be learned from that. We have to do a better job of reaching out to every American, and making the connection to show how our solutions will do a better job of helping them.”

Read the full interview here.

Jillian Rayfield

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com. More Jillian Rayfield.

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